BFREPA (British Free Range Egg Producers Association) response to the Government's New Deal for Farmers

Published on : 9 Jan 2025

Gary Ford, BFREPA Head of Strategy and Producer Engagement, said:
BFREPA welcomes the Secretary of State's announcements at the Oxford Farming Conference, and we look forward to continuing to work with ministers, the department, and agencies to deliver the government's ambition and vision to tangible and meaningful benefits for our members. 

However, several 'elephants in the room' will impact unlocking rural growth. Recent changes to IHT are, arguably, the largest, significantly undermining, as it does, farmers' confidence. Confidence is everything in business and is the foundation for investment and growth. A priority must be to pause and consult on Agricultural and Business Property Relief changes.

Unfortunately, the genie is already out of the bottle due to trade deals entered into by the previous Administration - the CPTPP being a good example - nonetheless, the government upholding and protecting our high environmental and animal welfare standards in future trade deals is welcomed. With great interest, we await what this means for UK egg producers. These high standards add to the cost of producing eggs in the UK, so it is only morally right that the government upholds and protects these standards against imports of eggs and egg products produced to different standards.

As it currently stands, the planning system is not fit for purpose, with costs, delays, and uncertainty massively stacked against farmers. Let us be clear: a fit-for-purpose planning system needs to ensure that applications are determined quickly without undue delay and gives farmers the confidence and certainty to plan and invest in their business for the future. We are talking about commercial egg production at scale. The demand from egg packers, retail, and consumers is there. We need a planning system that matches that demand and the industry's ambition to meet that demand. This is, however, for the avoidance of doubt, not about speedily converting larger barns into farm shops or holiday lets. 

As the farming system of choice for consumers, BFREPA and its free range egg members stand ready to support the government's vision of delivering a profitable farming sector and unlocking rural growth.